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Poster:
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 akb |
Date:
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July 15, 2003 05:53:36am |
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Forum:
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opensource_audio
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Subject:
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Re: Minidisc Recorders |
I help out at a radio station's news division and personally I hate mini-disc recorders. The audio is compressed, you'll get generation loss if you dub between machines, you lose the entire track if you run out of power, etc.
We're looking at the personal audio devices, like the Neuros and Nomad, that record to a hard disk. You can record as uncompressed or various compressed formats, record for days on end with a 40GB drive, don't have to buy discs. The biggest win though for the news people who are on tight deadlines will be not having to playback the material in realtime to begin editing on a computer, you just mount the device like a HD and you're editing it. Unfortunately most models only have a line input, so we'd have to add a preamp.
That said most people I work w/ use and are happy with Sony mini-disc recorders. Make sure that you get a model that has a mic input, you will find lots of "deals" for these crippled machines. Your mic is probably more important than the particular model of recorder that you get.
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Poster:
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Tribe |
Date:
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July 15, 2003 08:22:11am |
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Forum:
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opensource_audio
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Subject:
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Re: Minidisc Recorders |
"We're looking at the personal audio devices, like the Neuros and Nomad, that record to a hard disk. You can record as uncompressed or various compressed formats, record for days on end with a 40GB drive, don't have to buy discs."
So on this sort of device, is it necessaary to purchase a microphone and pre-amp in order to be able to record something?
"The biggest win though for the news people who are on tight deadlines will be not having to playback the material in realtime to begin editing on a computer, you just mount the device like a HD and you're editing it."
Are these devices compatible with macintoshes?
What sort of microphone would you recommend for the device you mention above?
As you can plainly see....I'm clueless!
Tribe
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Poster:
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lotus |
Date:
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July 16, 2003 12:06:15pm |
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Forum:
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opensource_audio
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Subject:
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Re: Minidisc Recorders |
I've been looking into getting one of these, and minidisc.org is a site that seems to have tons of info all in one place: FAQs, product comparisons, etc.
Minidiscs are compatible with Macs; you just play the minidisc player output into the mic input jack on your computer the same way you would if you were recording a cassette to your HD. So you do lose some quality, 'cause you can't transfer the file digitally (seems ridiculous, but I'm sure it makes sense to Sony...), but until Apple comes out with the recording version of the iPod(!), minidisc does seem like a decent option for a reasonably priced, compact recorder....
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Poster:
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akb |
Date:
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July 17, 2003 06:08:17am |
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Forum:
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opensource_audio
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Subject:
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Re: Minidisc Recorders |
Yes, you need to purchase a preamp and mic in addition to the device. The type of mic to get varies widely with the type of recording you want to do and how much you want to spend. You can spend $10 or $2000 (or more). If you're doing "man on the street interviews" you can get by with a cheapo handheld omni directional mic. If you're going to be recording from a distance then you want a highly directional mic (shotgun mic). If you're looking at a minidisc though you are probably looking for something small and handheld, the
ecm-ms907 is a good mic. Around $100, it has a switch to set how directional it is which gives you some flexibility.
Macs should be able to mount the device as a HD, some of them come with software (to do syncing w/ a music collection) which may or may not run on Macs. You should check before you buy.
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